Michael’s trip report for this route is a photo essay. Indeed words may not suffice at conveying the grandeur of this route. It was certainly one of my favorites of all time. I’ll do my best! Aidan, Michael, and I drove out to Mount Baker late Saturday afternoon (a nap gone too long made me rush to get there about 20 minutes late). The plan was to have a big dinner in Bellingham and catch a few hours of sleep before setting out from the trailhead. We ate at a pizza place and I ended up eating more than I should have; I had no need of breakfast the next day. The drive up to Mount Baker was fraught with potholes now and then and I entertained Michael and Aidan by swerving in and out to avoid them. At the trailhead were already several cars. It might be a noisy bivy. We decided to at least drive up further to get a good view of Mount Baker. About a half mile around a switchback we had a most impressive view of Mount Baker – a classic awe-inspiring view. Michael had the bright idea of just sleeping here in solitude with nice views. We were all for that. We bedded down rather quickly with sunlight to spare and I fell asleep right away and awoke to Michael’s faux alarm (his screeching imitation of an alarm 10 minutes early)! Well, that was about 3 hours of solid sleep at least. We got ready and coasted down to the trailhead and headed out around 1:10am.
The trail was nice, wide, and worn and we passed over black creeks here and there in the darkness. Soon enough we had a major stream crossing that we negotiated without too much trouble. It would prove to be much easier in daylight but in pitch black, it sometimes hard to determine the depth of where you’re stepping and how potentially solid the step is. After checking our altimeters, we still thought this wasn’t the major stream crossing. However, we soon found ourselves in the snow, still in darkness. It that wasn’t the stream crossing, we were going to be crossing it on snow. With snow now accounting for the trail, it was easy to make good time – a steady pace of one foot in front of the other gained us the glacier quickly. I was amazed at how warm it was out here. I was still wearing only a t-shirt and wasn’t cold even when we stopped. Both Aidan and I were a little worried about the warmth and the snow wasn’t in the best of shape for a snow climb. Michael and I argued back and forth about the quality of the snow for a while (you’ll just have to come with me to Colorado for a spring climb to experience really good snow, Michael)! I’m not a good judge of temperatures but it felt that it was at least in the 50’s. After a long vertical slog we began heading across the Coleman Glacier.
The crossing of the Coleman Glacier was one of the great memories of this climb. The sun was barely beginning to illuminate the east as we began crossing crevasses growing bigger and bigger. Travelling en echelon for a while got us safely through a section of gill-shaped parallel crevasses. The next section involved negotiating huge crevasses with large seracs that dead-ended from time to time. We were turned around by dead-ends at least twice and jumped a crevasse or two to continue along the way. We finally made up our minds to take the direct route up steep snow to gain the ridge. At least this way we wouldn’t have to negotiate more crevasses. We started up and then took a break about a third of the way up. We continued up the remaining two thirds and the slope decreased before a final small crevasse near the base of the crux of the climb. We took a comfortable break here as well as another party arrived on the crest of the ridge from the standard route. We then got ready for the technical section of the climb and headed up to meet it.
Michael led up the first pitch handily and didn’t place an ice screw until near the top. He then appeared a little more relaxed then continued on, cresting the ridge and getting to a comfortable belay stance. Aidan and I then headed up, separated by about 12 feet of rope. Being new to ice climbing, I found this pitch really thrilling and fun. I felt very secure with my crampons and two ice tools, although I once tried to “french technique” (stepping with the side of my feet instead of the toes) my way up to spare my calves but this wasn’t secure at all and my feet slipped out but my axes held strong. No more doing that.
The crest of the ridge was steep, exposed, and fun. Looking down and to the left revealed immense exposure on the broken Roosevelt Glacier. Soon enough, Aidan and I topped out. Looking for a place to stand at the small belay, I poked a boot through a covered crevasse revealing blue ice. OK, no standing there so I moved just underneath Michael. Aidan led out next. We weren’t quite sure of the route from here. We thought it was indeed to the left underneath a large ice wall but the straight direct route looked doable. But, we weren’t sure if that would leave us topped out on teetering ice so we took what looked like a safer route.
Our route turned out not to be the best one but there was no way to know. We ended up in a very sunny and soupy spot of the North Ridge. We needed to press on quickly. There were only two options: descend the route and take the direct route (the other party did this and it turned out to be a simple option, much less technical than ours), or ascend a short but near vertical section to the right to gain the upper ridge. We decided to quickly take the really steep section. Aidan passed the gear down the rope and I transferred it to Michael who headed out quickly and established an admiral route to the upper ridge. Aidan and I followed it with no problems.
Our surroundings were absolutely spectacular. We were in an airy alpine place with the Coleman and Roosevelt Glaciers way below us with views of the Cascades reaching out to the north. I was able to point out the group of peaks around American Border Peak to Aidan and Michael – hey, starting to know my way around somewhat! We took a short break on top of the technical areas and then headed up the still steep slopes. We placed gear here and there on our running belay up this 50 degree slope. We had to pause for pictures a lot!
The large ice cap of Mount Baker was very near now. We traversed under it in a very spectacular manner. A few more yards got us to the level plateau and a view of the summit on the far left. The ascent was done!
The view from the top was of course spectacular and we spent a long time on the summit calling out peaks and hypothesizing about ones far in the distance. We also wondered what it would be like to be in some of those deep valleys that we were able to see as well. The general consensus was, “Hmmm…probably not very cool.” Well, I guess that’s in contrast with our fantasic location at this moment.
The descent was another matter of delight. We descended the standard Coleman Demming route. Getting down the Roman Wall was a pain – the snow was super messy and stepping in someone else’s footsteps frequently nearly sent me rolling down the mountain. The most comfortable way was to make my own path. Still, being roped up was a huge pain. We took off the rope since there was little crevasse danger here which made the descent a little more tolerable. Of course, since Michael and Aidan carried the gear, I carried the rope and they handed it to me in a tangled mess. I spent too much time trying to untangle it and gave up in frustration. I then bounded down trying to catch up glissading at times. Near the base of the glacier we all finally converged again and hiked out together. The hike out was uneventful (Michael glissaded over a crevasse though). We talked a lot about how good we felt.
“Man, I still feel really good.”
“Yeah, I’m wide awake.”
and so on.
Sitting in the car though on the drive out was another matter. Aidan succumbed first, his neck turning into a noodle and falling into his own lap practically. Michael and I had a good laugh and then Michael did the same thing. I guess the adrenalin was out of our systems now. I started having to fight off wanting to shut my eyes. Fortunately, caffeine in the form of Cokes took care of that and we drove home. We introduced Aidan to the caterwauling and shredding of “Racer X”. Fun times!
Posted 7 years, 1 month ago at 2:39 am. Add a comment
Dan really wanted to climb Mount Shuksan. When he decided to come out for a visit and to try his skills in the Cascades, there was no doubt what peak he wanted to climb. I suggested a few other climbs but this was only to go through the formalities. Mount Shuksan it was so we both began reading about the route and studying the map. From the descriptions we read, the glacier was fairly gentle and the summit pyramid was 3rd class. One of these statements proved to be way off. Dan arrived in Seattle Friday night and we spent the evening packing up and getting everything ready to go. We left the following morning around 7:15 and arrived at the ranger station in Sedro-Wooley at about 8:45. We asked for permits to camp on the Sulphide Glacier and the ranger told us that they just filled up. So, we faced what we thought was our first mini-crisis. The ranger did say that we were allowed to camp in the National Forest (but not the National Park) which was about 1000 feet below. So this wasn’t a big deal. We headed out looking for places to eat and ended up in a little breakfast joint in Concrete. It was nice to have a good breakfast before starting our hike. We then drove up to the trailhead, which was quite full, and headed up.
We started off at 2500 feet on the awesome Shannon Ridge trail. The National Park boundary was up on Shannon Ridge so our campsite would be there; we were hoping that it would be open enough for some views. Often in the North Cascades, you’re in thick trees and brush for so long that you begin feeling claustrophobic and longing for views. In Colorado, you generally don’t have to worry about this. Anyway, the trail was nice and gentle for a couple of miles or so and then began turning steeply up. The weather was mercifully overcast so it was cool but we couldn’t see the high peaks during the occasional glimpses through the trees – we only saw the fringes of snow on the lower slopes. At times the trail was loaded with roots and the brush was occasionally quite thick but we had a lot to be thankful for – like the trail! Soon, we broke out on to Shannon Ridge and saw that the trees were becoming more sparse. We’d certainly have some good views once the clouds cleared. In front of us, we could see the base of Mount Baker. Then I happened to tilt my head more skyward and saw that part of the clouds had parted revealing more of Mount Baker. What a HUGE mountain! The view was awe-inspiring and we quickly made our way up to the National Park boundary and our campsite.
Our campsite was indeed awesome (above), on top of a knoll with views of Mount Baker to the west and Mount Blum and the North Cascades to the east. After resting and getting some food, I decided to hike up to the col about 400 feet above us. I thought maybe I could get a view of the next section of the route. The clouds were beginning to clear and it appeared that there was blue sky beyond the col but there were still low clouds passing silently above us. Without a pack, I was able to get to the col really quickly and I could see the next part of the route. I memorized the crucial landmarks since we had to traverse this section of the climb in darkness early tomorrow morning. So, I headed back down and we spent the rest of the time taking pictures and enjoying the awe-inspiring views. This campsite was definitely one of the most scenic that I’ve ever had. The clouds cleared more and we had great views of Baker. The setting sun masked some of the detail on it but the peaks to the west were crystal clear. We set our alarms for 2am and turned in around 9:30. We left the tent open (with the mosquito netting of course) and enjoyed the last light of the setting sun.
I recall having dreams that I was at a summer camp or something and was trying to go to sleep yet someone was snoring. I wonder if this had any bearing on reality! The next thing I knew, Dan was trying to wake me up – we’d somehow slept through two alarms and it was 2:50. Opening the door to the tent, I noticed that it was a clear and calm outside. I looked up at the silhouette of Mount Baker and witnessed a shooting star over it. Awesome. As we got ready, we saw several others. We had a quick breakfast and headed out around 3:15. It was pretty easy going up to the col and beyond since I’d checked out the route the day before. We made good time. At the col, the route turns to the left and traverses around a basin and then hooks back to the left again around a rocky buttress. After maybe 50 more feet, we arrived at the base of the glacier. We continued up a little farther without crampons and though it was not steep, it was slick so we made our way towards a small rock outcropping and put on our crampons.
It was much easier going with our crampons obviously. We crested a ridge and saw a couple of the tents. So, this was where we would be camping if we had gotten a permit. In retrospect, I was very happy with the was things worked out. Though we had to deal with the bugs, we were at least in a more inhabitable place; glaciers are just so unbelievably hot in the daytime. We went beyond the tents to a second crest then roped up. At this point the sun was just barely starting to come up. We continued up the glacier which was almost like a giant rounded staircase. We would head up a steep slope which leveled off for a while, then would climb the next slope that eventually leveled off as well. We passed a few crevasses but they were easy to spot. High on the Sulphide Glacier is pretty safe regarding crevasses. The dangerous terrain naturally gravitates towards the center slopes below.
We had clear views of the summit pyramid at this point. The Sulphide Glacier is really really big but we made great time over the gentle slopes. We passed the exit for Hell’s Highway and took a break before heading up the final snow slopes that led to the base of the summit pyramid. Earlier on, we’d seen headlamps up on the summit pyramid. Apparently, someone else had a much earlier start than we did. There was a second snowfield past about 100 feet of rock on the summit pyramid so we decided to leave our crampons on. The rock section wasn’t too hard until we came to a five foot wall that we had to heave ourselves over. The second section of snow was much steeper but nothing to worry about. At the end of the snowfield, we took off our crampons and unroped. We decided that we could just leave the rope here and go as light as possible. I guess we could have left our crampons too, but we didn’t.
We began what we thought was a 3rd class scramble. The terrain quickly became quite hard. It was easily 4th class, and if it were up to me, I’d rate it as hard 4th class. We had to wind around a good bit to find the safest route up. It didn’t help that I had my bulky camera case in front of me but I wanted to take pictures! After about climbing 100 vertical feet, we realized this would be no easy climb, in fact, it would be quite difficult. Dan decided to ask the party behind us (who happened to be camped near us) to bring our rope up to us in case we needed it. This was a wise move. We had to wait a while but at least we had our rope now. While we were waiting the group that we’d seen earlier up on the summit pyramid were coming down. They were a guided group and had a complete set of rock gear. The were rappelling the entire route. I talked briefly with the guide and then continued up. I was pretty far in front of Dan and ended up in front of another chockstone. Instead of climbing it, I opted to climb a small fin up to a ledge that appeared to connect back with the gully we were in above. Plus, the guide indicated that it would hook back up with the gully. Dan continued up the standard route.
Soon enough, I realized that I was not going to be able to get back into the gully. I moved 10 feet in the other direction and realized that I was on the ridge. In front of me, the terrain looked hard, exposed, but doable. I was a bit nervous about this but went up anyway. I was about 50 feet below the summit on a smooth, fairly steep face. This was easily 5th class and my heart was beating hard as I carefully made my way up. Fortunately, it became much easier about 20 feet up. The footing was much more secure although it was still hugely exposed. Finally, I arrived on the top. I saw Dan coming up a steep section in the gully. We’d both picked much harder routes up to the summit. By far the easiest way up to the summit once you’re about 50 feet below the summit is to move on to the ridge to the left (northwest). This is only 4th class and the difficulties are very short. Anyway, we were both on top. This was a much more difficult climb than we were anticipating! We realized that we’d need to rappel at least two sections of the climb in order to descend safely. We stayed on top for at least thirty minutes and then started down. We ran into the party of three that brought up our rope and they offered to rappel with us down the hard sections. We planned on tying our ropes together so that we could rappel the longer sections easily.
We descended about 40 feet down the “easy” ridge to the rappel station. Dan and I ended up free climbing the descent since it wasn’t very hard. There were other parties heading up now and I’d say that at least 2/3rds of the people were using a belay to climb. The middle section was a little easier so we down climbed that as well. The rest of the group decided to belay each other, which was probably smart, but we felt pretty comfortable. However, we knew we’d need to rappel the lower section. We tied our ropes together and I started the rappel down to the second snowfield. It was a pain at times since I naturally had to untangle the rope but we all made it down without incident. Once we got all the was down to the base of the summit pyramid, we sort of felt home free, though we still had a long hike in front of us.
The hike back to camp was indeed a long one but not that bad. After all, the views were incredible. For one, the sun was high enough in the sky now that the North Cascade peaks weren’t washed out but were brilliant and clear. We took off our crampons once were were past the crevassed area and glissaded the steeper sections back down to the base of the glacier. We made it back to camp pretty fast. We were really tired back at camp and we were looking forward to a bit of time for relaxing but the bugs were pretty bad. I opted for jumping in the tent just to get out of the sun and away from the bugs. It was hot but at least there was a little breeze. I didn’t stay long and the bugs were attacking Dan so he was ready to head out. We packed up and headed out. The hike out seemed quite long. A lot longer than I remembered. Finally, we made it back to the car and I gave Dan the congratulatory handshake for our successful climb of Mount Shuksan and his introduction to the North Cascades.
Posted 7 years, 11 months ago at 9:40 pm. Add a comment
Two more weekends to Rainier but I had the North Cascades on my mind and wanted to hit an easy peak to help get me in shape for Rainier and to see the spectacular views that I remembered from November when I first visited the national park. I hooked up with a fellow climber from Microsoft. The plan was to climb Ruth Mountain. We were planning on leaving Friday afternoon but the weather started turning so we delayed the trip a day. On Saturday, the weather was still questionable so we started contemplating a climb of “The Brothers” in the Olympic Range. We ultimately decided on Ruth Mountain because we needed more than one day to do the Brothers traverse; it was a bit too much to ask given the distance and elevation for one day, especially this early in the season.
We left Saturday afternoon for a camping spot that Robert had used a couple of years ago for a climb of the Nooksack Tower. We brought our bivy sacks and went to bed around 10, still well before it was completely dark. It took me a while to fall asleep.
I also woke up well before our 6am alarm since the sun came up around 4:45 am! Well, it was pleasant enough to lay there listening to the raging Nooksack creek. I remember thinking how glad I was that there was no river crossings for this climb. The creeks here in the Pacific Northwest are understandably very wide, deep, and cold and crossing them is frequently a requirement to a remote peak.
We got up and had a little breakfast then headed up to the Hannegan Pass trailhead. The road was closed before the trailhead though and we had a little extra hiking in front of us, but not much. Pretty soon, we were on the trail. The trail was easy to follow for quite a while though we were in snow from almost the very beginning.
As we continued higher up, the trail became more faint from time to time. Well, it was more like hikers couldn’t quite make up their mind what the best route was. We were well above Ruth Creek and a lot of the trail became an ascending traverse. One section in an old-growth forest was quite steep and a bit treacherous in retrospect. This was actually our crux of the climb, believe it or not. A while after though the trees became a bit more sparse and it was apparent we were near the pass. Hannegan Pass didn’t feel like much of a pass to me, it was more of a basin, but I didn’t spend much time studying the terrain. We put on some more sunscreen here and headed up to the ridge.
The guidebook says to go around the backhand side of a knob that was directly in front of us but it was obvious that a better route, at least this time of year, was to climb the moderately steep snow on the right hand side of the knob up to the ridge. We probably cut off a good chunk of time by doing this. Once on the ridge, the view of the North Cascades opened up.
We stopped frequently for photos and taking in the views. There were obviously others up here because there were tent sites dug and a couple of tents were still pitched. We also spotted some other climbers high up on the mountain.
The remainder of climb was basically a gentle snow slog up to the summit which lay beyond a black rock on the lefthand side of the ridge. I got into a groove and headed up and didn’t stop until I was on top.
It had been very warm lower on the slopes but it was windy on the summit and clouds had moved in which frequently obscured the sun. It was quite cold on my bare legs but I managed. I wandered down to the ridge and took pictures of Icy Peak which we were thinking of climbing.
It was probably a good thing that we didn’t attempt Icy Peak this day. Perhaps if we would have camped high we could have done it easily but I know we both would have been just shot if we would have climbed over to this mountain. Instead we just took it easy and took in the views which featured a spectacular frame of Mount Shuksan, just across the valley from us. The Price Glacier route looked quite scary and Himalayan.
We descended down the face leading directly down to the valley floor. The idea was that we would hike out along the creek and avoid the tedious traverses that we ascended on the way up. We were able to glissade most of the way down to the creek, always a great way to steal elevation back. The hike out was indeed much easier along the north side of the creek. We wisely didn’t cross back over to the south side until about 4/5ths of the way back. As soon as we did, the terrain became tougher, crowded with fallen trees and rocks but eventually got back on the trail.
This was a pretty cool intro to the North Cascades. Of course, Ruth Mountain at about 8-10 miles and 4200 feet of elevation is reputed to be an easy peak in this rugged range.
Icy Peak. It was tempting, but we headed back instead. I kinda wish we would have gone in hindsight, though I would have been a zombie hiking out.
Posted 8 years, 1 month ago at 3:11 am. Add a comment
